Response to Atwell article

I can respond positively to everything Atwell says in her article. I based my own classroom library of over 1500 books based on her ideas pertaining to reading for pleasure. Atwell states that good classroom libraries should consist of 10 books for each student. For most of us teaching in a block period, that would be 800 books or so. With the advent of our new classroom libraries (should be in by next week-thank you Chris Miller!) we should be more prepared than ever to offer our students a nice selection of books tailored to their interests.

One of the most important criteria for establishing a climate of reading that Atwell doesn't talk about is the importance of teachers reading the books that the kids are reading. If I don't read what my kids are reading, how can I steer them to an excellent book based on their interests and reading styles. Granted, I haven't read every book in my library, but I've read hundreds of my own books and when I can say to my students, "I've read this and it's one of my favorites," kids really respond to that connection. When the student begins to read the book, I can talk with them during our SSR time and ask, "Have you gotten to the part where...". This is the kind of student/teacher connection that I LOVE! We are so far apart in age, so far apart in experiences, but we can share that common experience of having read the same book. When I began teaching, I knew that this would be a good connection with my students, I just didn't realize how wonderful it would be and that it would quickly become the cornerstone of my teaching.

I agree with Mikki about the teaching of novels in addition to providing that all-important pleasure reading, SSR, IR, or whatever we want to call it. Students need to know how to engage in a lengthy novel and how to respond to the literature through group discussion, individual responses, etc. We must think about our demographics at all times when we are thinking about our curriculum. Over 70% of our students go on to college (either a 2-year college or a 4-year college). If we haven't begun and completed the process of teaching our students how to read a novel, how to critically respond to a novel and not just write book reports, then we haven't done our jobs to prepare our students for success after high school. Many college professors have reported that students who are not reading complete novels in whole-group are not as successful in college as students who have not studied a novel in-depth. Where else but in a novel do students learn character development over time? We do have to teach them this process. Experiencing the novel in a whole-group situation first, and then gradually releasing the students to explore and critically analyze novels on their own is good teaching (or best practice).

Atwell is preaching to the choir about establishing good reading habits and practices in the classroom. Instill in a student the passion for reading and you have done a good deed for a lifetime. Additionally, we are blessed with parents who are incredibly supportive of the time and effort we put into our books and establishing good readers. After all, their child is the beneficiary. It's a win-win for teacher, student, and parent.